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Should We Cure Aging - Mitos
Should We Cure Aging - Mitos
Aging fosters sickness and disability, increases human suffering, and makes us more
likely to die. Yet there are a number of possible objections to the endeavor of curing
aging. Most of these are unfounded myths, easy to disprove. This essay draws on my
own lectures on the subject and attempts to answer the most commonly raised questions
and concerns about a possible cure for aging.
Key words: ageing, anti-aging medicine, eternal youth, life extension, lifespan,
longevity, rejuvenation, society, the principle of beneficence, the principle of respect for
autonomy
Secondly, humankind is, in a sense, a struggle against nature. We have antibiotics and
vaccines because we don't want to be sick, which would be the natural outcome for
many of us. If we were to follow Nature's will, many of us wouldn't be here and
wouldn't be reading these lines, on a monitor, over the Internet.
My calculations for a cure for aging yield an average longevity of 1,200 years. This is
assuming one would be forever young in body and mind.
When Vasco da Gama or Christopher Columbus explored the world they left death and
injustice on the shores of their homeland. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon without
world peace and Tim Berners-Lee didn't wait for an end of poverty to invent the
Internet. Yet all the discoveries and endeavors of these men benefited their societies and
humankind in general. There are no ideal circumstances. Setting new limits and making
new discoveries eventually improves the lives of everyone.
One good book debating the economic impact of extreme life extension is:
"Coping with Methuselah: The Impact of Molecular Biology on Medicine and Society"
edited by the Aaron, HJ and Schwartz, WB (2004). Brookings Institution Press,
Washington.
Aging is the major problem we face in our society. It is or will be the major cause of
suffering and pain for me and the ones I love. This holds true for industrialized nations
and Western civilization and that is why aging must be a top priority.
A number of other authors have recently argued on ethical and moral aspects of extreme
life-extension (for instance, see Post, 2004). In fact, two books have been recently
published on the subject: